Tensor Analysis of Finite Rotations: Applications to Aircraft Manoeuvres, Variable Sweep Wings, Retractable Undercarriages

PART III The Motion of a Retractable Undercarriage THE methods developed in Part I, to describe the motion of a body moving on a fixed axis, enable the direction of the axis and the angle of rotation to be determined from two compatible positions of a component relative to a parent body. Graphical methods, such as that devised by Bailkowski, are available for finding the axis of rotation of an undercarriage when the extended and retracted positions are specified, but an analytical method will always give a more accurate solution than a graphical one, and it may at the same time be both shorter and simpler.